Wine Spirits –

Are you looking for a nice bottle of wine to sup, or the perfect accompaniment to that special meal? How about a lovely glass of red, to settle down next to the fire with on a cold winter evening? A quick trip to the off licence and all these desires are met – or are they?

The fact is the answer could soon well be NO purely because there just isn’t one. Surely not, you may be saying, well let’s look at the reasoning behind it:

Firstly there is competition, there are more and more places that you can now sate your wine passion other than the traditional “offie” The two major threats come from the supermarket and the online wine club.

Secondly, cost. Small shops have less buying power and in relation to their size, much greater costs per unit and hence have to charge more to make up the difference and make ends meet.

Thirdly convenience. That’s the funny thing about your local off licence is that it often isn’t that convenient. Leaving your home just to go out and pick up one thing doesn’t really tie in with many people’s busy schedules these days. Picking up a bottle on the way home from work may suit, but not if you want more than one. It makes more sense to pick up all the wine you need when you can put it in the trolley and then take it home in the car with the rest of the shopping. Or even better, not even leave the house at all – go online buy at a discounted rate and get the wine delivered straight to your door.

So what does an off licence offer? Well a good one is not just your average corner shop that happens to sell plonk, it will give you a variety benefits. Such as a knowledgeable owner who can help advise on the best wines for certain occasions / meals. They will also have a wider range of some of the less well known or undiscovered gems that you won’t find in a supermarket, they will also be able to let you know which of these is worth a try and which you may want to give a miss.

Are these factors enough to overcome the drawbacks though? Probably not and this can be seen in the fact the decline has already begun. Unwins – one of the high street favourites closed in 2005 and Threshers have closed a goodly percentage of their stores compared to the number they had in the late 1980’s early 90’s. A very good off licence is now a very rare breed indeed. The expertise is often sorely lacking and even if you do find one with a proprietor that knows their stuff is that enough – again probably not. The simple fact of the matter is they cannot compete on price consistently.

On top of all of this there are often introductory deals that many clubs offer to secure your custom in the first place. The vast majority of traditional off licences have very tight margins that they have to maintain, this is not the case with the online wine retailers. They can and do offer “loss leading” deals that are in effect too good to be (think back to Tesco selling sliced loaves at 14p) so that once they have got you on board the quality of the wines and the service will keep you as a long term customer.

Finally there is the fact that you can take advantage of all these wonderful deals from the comfort of your own home. The way that the clubs operate couldn’t be simpler – just select the plan or deal that you like, pay the one off or subscription rate and hey presto the wine appears at your door. So in the face of all this pressure that the off licence is facing it is safe to say that if it is not already dead it is certainly in its death throes

Resource Author Francisco Rodriguez Higueras
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